Student Independent Projects Psychology 2017: The Developmental Role of Attachment in Anxiety and Depression

Waddleton, Kendra M. (2017) Student Independent Projects Psychology 2017: The Developmental Role of Attachment in Anxiety and Depression. Research Report. Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The current literature review examines how attachment styles affect the development of anxiety and depression in childhood through to young adulthood. First, attachment theory proposed by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth is discussed, which explains how attachment types are developed through infant-caregiver relationships. The differing roles of maternal and paternal caregivers in the attachment relationship are also considered. Discussion in terms of anxiety in relationship to attachment is first addressed with separation anxiety in infancy, and continues to discuss how attachment styles relate to anxiety and depression throughout childhood and adolescence as well as into early adulthood. This review then turns to a newer, different attachment-anxiety/depression relationship between humans and pets and how this relationship may be similar to that of human-human relationships. Lastly, some potential mediators that may help explain the relationship between attachment and anxiety and depression are discussed. Overall, the literature concludes that insecure attachment is related to higher levels of both anxiety and depression than secure attachments from childhood to early adulthood and across different relationships.

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